Day 19
Terrain: no change
Lost?: Following River, not lost
Point of Interest: 6, none
The Crawlers followed the wagon road north, along the River Folter, as the sun climbed higher into the sky. By mid-morning, the hills north of Chasman blocked their view of the village completely. A flutter of wings announced the arrival of a huge raven, its black feathers glistening an iridescent green and purple in the bright sun. The bird landed on Calindis's outstretched arm and held out a black-scaled leg. Attached to the creature's leg was a small leather pouch. Calindis opened the pouch and withdrew a small slip of parchment. The raven, seeing its message delivered, leapt from the wizard's arm and winged its way south.
"What was that about?" Aria asked, stepping up beside the wizard.
"I believe," Calindis answered quietly, "that was Lagis's familiar. It delivered a message from him."
"What's it say?"
Calindis unfurled the rolled up parchment and read:
"I write to thank you, in lieu of the village, for saving us from the faefolk. I take full blame for the incursion, as it was I who sent you into the faewood and directly into conflict with the insular fae who dwell therein. As a token of my sincerest apologies, I offer you this advice: Go north, to Alban's Ford and cross the river there. From the ford, travel east a few days to the village of Longcairn. There, you will find an old adventuring companion of mine. They will surely have work for you. I am sending my familiar ahead of you with a letter of introduction.
Yours,
Lagis Moonscar"
"Did you hear that, Folgi?" Aria called ahead to the dwarf.
"Aye, lass, I did. Does anyone know how far north this Alban's Ford is?"
[Oracle: Does anyone know? > Unlikely (D6/D) = 1, "no, and"]
After a moment, Folgi answered for them all. "I see, neither do I. At least we cannot be lost following the river."
"There's another issue," Aria said. "We've got two days worth of food left."
"Then we shall simply have to forage," Artaeus, who had been silent since the mob ran them out of town, said. "There are plenty of things out here to eat."
The others agreed with the cleric and, while they continued north, sought out any edible forage they could find.
[Save vs Level 2 Forage = 5, success; D6 = 6, honeycomb]
[Save vs Level 3 Sting = 5, success]
Aria spotted a beehive on a nearby tree and carefully approached. Despite the buzzing of the bees, the rogue managed to cut free three large chunks of honey and return them to the road where the party set about scraping the honey from the combs and breaking the comb itself into bite-sized pieces. The process took them about ten minutes to complete, and, when they were finished, their ration store had increased to about nine days worth of food.
"Well done, Aria," Calindis, who had begun to feel a sisterly bond with the young rogue, said when they had finished. "We shall not go hungry for a while now."
The rogue beamed at the praise, unaccustomed to such positivity. "Thank you, Calindis."
The Crawlers continued traveling until sundown. They set up a small camp, and established a watch. Folgi took first watch, while Calindis and Aria would take second and third. Artaeus, who preferred to offer prayer to his deity at dawn, requested the final watch.
[-1 Party Ration, now 8]
[Night Encounter?: D6 = 1, indicated]
[Watch: D6 = 2 > 2nd watch]
[Encounter Type: D6 = 1]
[Boss Table: D6 = 1, Black Knight]
Calindis studied her spell book by the light of the fire, comforted by the gentle buzz of insects in the grass and the now-familiar rumble of the dwarf's snoring. The sound of hoofbeats carried on the wind brought her out of her revelry. Something was coming. She quickly roused her companions, who had just enough time to rise and gather their gear before a massive humanoid shape in heavy black plate armor rode up beside their camp.
The aura of anger and hatred billowing off the black-clad warrior shattered the Crawlers' battle-hardened resolve, sending them all fleeing into the night. The black-clad warrior thundered after Calindis, who was running hard for the road. The knight's sword slashed across her back as he ran her down. The wizard stumbled, fear no longer driving her forward. She turned to face the terror, her hands shaking. The knight slipped from the back of his black steed effortlessly and stalked toward the cowering wizard.
Despite her fear, Calindis's training took over and she muttered the words of power to form a ball of sputtering lightning in her hand. She threw the lightning bolt at the knight, causing him to stumble as the electricity arced all along the plate armor.
[Other party members to return to the fight: D6 = 1, 3, 3 > Folgi, 1 Turn; Artaeus and Aria, 3 Turns]
The knight roared, his voice almost inhuman and screeching, as he powered through the pain of the lightning spell and swung his sword at the wizard once again. The black blade sliced painfully across the wizard's chest. Blood began to flower from the wound. Seeing her predicament, and being uncertain if she would have help in this fight, the wizard began the chant to summon arcane armor. The purple glow of the spell surrounded her, then suffused with her skin. Her body still burned from the wounds she'd sustained, but the Protect spell provided her some measure of comfort.
[Folgi returns; is the Knight surprised? D6 = 5, no]
The sound of someone charging through the grass alerted the knight in time to turn to face the hammer of Folgi as he leapt into battle. The dwarf's hammer slammed hard into the knight's chest, the sound echoing across the plains. The knight, seemingly unphased, turned his sword upon the dwarf. He slashed viciously across the dwarf's unarmored forearm. Folgi cursed the knight in his guttural tongue before returning the blow in kind. Folgi's hammer crushed the knight's left arm, leaving it hanging limply at his side.
Calindis used the dwarf's distraction as a chance to center herself and calm her racing mind. As Folgi crushed the knight's arm, she began to chant the words of power to the Sleep spell. The purple cloud coalesced over her outstretched hand and she threw it at the knight. The cloud settled over the full-faced helm of the knight and he slowly slumped to his knees, then fell with a clatter onto the ground.
The wizard crumpled to the ground, giving into the pain of her wounds now that the danger had passed. The others arrived shortly after, faces white from the lingering terror of the black knight's aura. Artaeus stepped up to the wizard and laid his hands on her shoulders as gently as he could manage. In a whisper, he uttered a prayer of healing over her. The cleric's hands glowed a soothing white and the light spread out from his splayed fingers, glowing along the lines of the back and chest wounds until they knit together completely. All that remained of the sword wounds was the blood stains on Calindis's robes.
"Thank you, Artaeus," she whispered.
"It is nothing, my friend."
The party returned to camp, and doubled the watch. Folgi took Calindis's place, despite already serving his time. The dwarf cradled his cut arm (which he refused to allow Artaeus to heal), and sat with Aria until the cleric woke for the final watch.
Random Table Round-Up
Instead of images of the tables I’ve used, I have linked my Google Docs file for Overland Travel. It contains all of the tables I used while traveling the two days this chapter includes. I will update it as the adventure continues.
Friends of the Den
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From Croaker RPGs. Coming soon.
Identity. A dark solo RPG project of introspective horror set in the ancient times of the mid-90s. Built using the Push SRD developed by Cezar Capacle, Identity will put you into terrifying situations and ask the question ‘are you the real you?’
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SGH is currently running Proper Villains, a Blades in the Dark actual play.
Tavon Gatling’s THUNDERFANG, a Sherlock Holmes inspired Starforged actual play currently in its third and final season!
Errant Adventures is currently releasing new podcast episodes every Monday, playing Traveler in a galaxy of their own making. You can also catch the Ironworn Guyz podcast where Steve and Matt Risby discuss various TTRPG topics.
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Write Firster has started a new adventure with Sundered Isles, the newest entry in the Ironsworn RPG line of games.
This was great. I love your tables!